Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz expressed frustration during a Tuesday podcast about criticism regarding his masculinity while he campaigned to be vice president of the United States in 2024.
Fox News host Jesse Watters in September criticized the governor’s masculinity, specifically citing his use of a straw to drink a milkshake. Walz, on “This is Gavin Newsom” claimed the network spent multiple days criticizing him for how he consumed the milkshake, and alleged they constantly characterized him as a homosexual.
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“It just baffled me how much time they spent trying to attack me — that I wasn’t like masculine enough in their vision. Like, I would have never believed this,” Walz said. “I saw Fox News did, like, a couple days because I used a straw, and I’m like, ‘Hell, man, how else do you drink a milkshake type of thing?’ But they focused on it obsessively, which I think, again, is their obsession, their weirdness.”
“We buy their frame on these issues of sexuality, you know? But their whole thing was is that they spent all their time — these guys on Fox News — that Walz is gay, he’s not masculine, you know?” he continued. “And he doesn’t coach football the way he should.”
Walz also asserted he believes he would win a fight against his critics.
“I think I could kick most of their ass,” he said.
Walz also received considerable backlash after appearing to struggle to load a semi-automatic shotgun in a video posted online during his pheasant-hunting trip while campaigning in October.
The governor signed a slew of liberal legislation since taking office in 2018, including a May 2023 law requiring Minnesota schools to provide tampons in both girls’ and boys’ restrooms, which prompted President Donald Trump and others to refer to him as “Tampon Tim.”
Walz launched a town hall tour in red districts across the U.S. in March, stating that he intends to “lend a megaphone” to Americans. He told The New Yorker in a March 2 interview that he would consider launching his own 2028 presidential bid if the conditions and his “skill set” were right.
